PDA

View Full Version : What's the lowest signals (OTA & QAM) that the S3 can handle w/o pixelation?


morac
01-04-2007, 09:33 PM
Sorry if this has been brought up, but I tried searching and didn't find this.

I'm curious as to what is the lowest OTA and cable signals the TiVo can handle and still get a perfect picture?

The cable installer told me that the TiVo Series 3 has a very good error correction mechanism built in (better than most set top boxes).

From my brief experience the cable signals need to be at least 90 for a good picture. Most channels I get have a signal strength of 100 or 97, but a few channels reported a signal of 87 and I saw occasional glitches on those channels. I removed a splitter and got the signal up to 93 on those channels and it seemed better on those channels.

The OTA seems to be more forgiving of signal issues. I've had signals as low as 80 and didn't see glitches, but then I've seen glitches with 78 signal. Unfortunately I haven't been able to set up my antenna so that all channels get a good signal. Either most channels get signals in the 90's and a few 70's or less or most channels get in the 80's. This is with an gain boosting indoor directional antenna sitting on top of the TV.

I'm curious as to what is the lowest signal strength you've seen without any problems.

minckster
01-04-2007, 10:07 PM
If the OTA signal is above 80, I'm good 24/7 regardless of weather. In the 70s, the picture might pixelate some with high winds but I'll still have complete recordings. The 60s is problematic and the 50s is very problematic, approaching impossible even in the best weather.

Is that about what other people experience? I'm about a mile to the broadcast tower, but receive most if not all of my signal via reflections off tall buildings.